The Foreign Ministry has welcomed Lithuania’s recent decision to
create a compensation fund for Jewish property confiscated during
World War II, but leading Israeli Holocaust restitution officials
criticize the effort as being too little, too late. The argument
highlights the tensions between the diplomats’ pragmatism and
restitution officials’ feelings of justice and entitlement.

Last week, the government in Vilnius announced the establishment of a
fund that, over a period of 10 years, will give 36 million Euros to
Jewish education, as well as to religious and cultural institutions
and projects.

“The decision implements the law approved by the Lithuanian
parliament on this issue, and constitutes an important step towards
providing historical justice for the Lithuanian Jewish community,”
the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem announced.

The Lithuanian government likewise spoke of a “historic decision,”
with Prime Minister’s Chancellor Deividas Matulionis saying that
it “might become a model of sorts for other states having historical
conscience problems.”

But for Bobby Brown, the director of the government-sponsored Project
HEART — which stands for Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce —
the deal between Vilnius and Lithuania’s Jews is less than
satisfying, since only Lithuanian citizens benefit from the fund.

A joint initiative of the Israeli government — under the auspices of
the Prime Minister’s Office — and the Jewish Agency, Project HEART
seeks to identify Jewish property lost or stolen before or during
World War II, with the goal of obtaining restitution for survivors or
their heirs.

“We want a wholesome process where every Jew of Lithuanian heritage
who has ancestors who lost property during the Holocaust can file a
request that will be examined if found to be valid, that restitution
or compensation be granted,” Brown told The Times of Israel. “We are
requesting from the Lithuanian government the implementation of a
process that allows Holocaust survivors and their heirs everywhere in
the world — whether they live in Vilnius, Ramat Gan or Chicago — to
be able to make a claim over a reasonable amount of time.”

Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel
office, was also critical of the deal, which the government in
Vilnius struck with the local Jewish community, with the help of the
director of International Jewish Affairs for the American Jewish
Committee, Rabbi Andrew Baker.

“There are several problems with this arrangement: first of all, the
sum is much too low. Secondly, the discussions about it — until a
deal was signed — took too long, so that most Holocaust survivors who
could have benefited from it have died in the meantime,” Zuroff said.

Zuroff is one of the most outspoken critics of Jerusalem’s
increasingly friendly diplomatic relations with Lithuania, lamenting
that the Baltic nation is actively involved in marginalizing the
Holocaust and is not tough enough on anti-Semitism.

“The deal is entirely in line with the bilateral relations between
Lithuania and Israel and the Foreign Ministry’s refusal to hold
Lithuania responsible for their systemic campaign of Holocaust
marginalization,” Zuroff said.